The Jump Point

by Anthony James

  Mahra's jaw dropped open. That, she had not suspected. Sind continued, oblivious to her stunned expression.

  "Commander Pellis, um, Timon that is, has the dubious distinction of being head of this particular operation. I function as Chief Technical Officer. As you have noted, The Dark Falcon is well equipped. Very well equipped in fact. It's state of the art military, some of it still experimental. We have a secondary drive, for instance, that remains untested, but it's still there all the same. Just in case. You see? I'm sure you will have noticed Garavenah's mention of Sirona involvement…"

  Mahra nodded, still trying to bring her surprise under control.

  "Yes, well, I thought as much. When it comes down to it, they are our primary concern. For a long time, the CoCee has suspected Sirona interference in a number of areas. That's where we come in. If we can gather enough evidence, we should have the capacity to introduce sanctions across the board, or at least have them introduced in the right quarters. Sanctions against the Sirona trading monopoly would be a fine thing — a very fine thing indeed. To bring a halt to the destabilising influence and what we believe are their clandestine networks of ownership and control. That would be a very fine thing as well. It may itself, ultimately lead to a confrontation, but that's something we're prepared for, and have been preparing for, for a long time. We have long suspected that the Sirona employ Belshore as a testing ground and distribution point for some of the more insidious of their products. Often, after the spread of such things, like this, the most recent, the so-called 'dust', we find a timely Sirona intervention with a price that ultimately seems to have a great cost in social progress or stability. Their workings are very subtle. All that people are generally looking for at the time is a quick fix to their problems. They don't count the long-term cost. That's why it's all the more dangerous."

  Mahra nodded. "So how does Garavenah's operation fit into the picture?" she asked as Sind took the time to sip at his mug of kahveh.

  Sind nodded in turn, swallowed a large gulp, and replied. "It's very simple really. Her outfit has been set up along the same lines as any of the Belshorian syndicate families. It has taken a long time to build up to the position she holds now. Forget the morals, but they deal in the full range of vice and corruption found on Belshore, and that in turn, gives her access to the distribution and supply networks. More importantly, it gives her access to massive amounts of information. We visit her once every few months and pick up a report on whatever she might have unearthed. We arrive, leave and continue in the guise of freebooters, always picking up or delivering something that would legitimate our presence."

  "But why in the world do you have to pick up the report, Jayeer? Why couldn't she just transmit it to wherever it has to go?"

  "Fair question. We've found through bitter experience that we can't trust the com nets, regardless of any encryption. The only way we can guarantee the transmission's sanctity is to carry it ourselves. If at any stage The Dark Falcon came under serious threat, then such information would be quite simply disappeared and the interested parties would be none the wiser."

  "Uh-huh, that makes sense. But if this operation is so sensitive, why not go through normal channels and second a replacement for the man you lost? Why hire me?"

  "I had serious doubts myself, but I've already told you that. My thinking ran along those very lines, but the Commander calls the shots. There are only a few, a select few, who know what is going on. We can't trust 'normal channels' as they stand. We don't know how far the penetration goes. The problem we face, you see, is that even the Council is not secure, or at least we can't be guaranteed that it is. Your appearance was somewhat fortuitous. You seemed to have no specific ties, yet you possessed the sort of skills we needed. A useful combination. The simple truth was, you do not seem to fit anywhere, and whether you like it or not, you were expendable and that matched our specific needs. All of our checks came up that way before we sought you out.”

  “Before you…what?”

  “As it turned out, the Commander's impulses, for once, seem to have worked out."

  "I don't believe it, Jayeer. Is that a sound of approval?" She paused for a moment, as he snorted at her sarcasm. She thought for a moment before continuing. In essence, it hadn’t been chance. It hadn’t been a matter of right place, right time. They’d actually come looking for her.

  "I still have questions though. What happens from here?"

  "Well ... I suppose we go on as we have been, but a little more openly. Timon will have to be told of course. He will probably bite my head off for saying too much — for a change." He smiled. "Still, what is done is done. But I warn you now," he said sternly. "If I so much as suspect there's a chance that you might compromise the operation, I will have no qualms ... " He left the remainder unsaid.

  "No need to rub it in Jayeer, I understand the implications," she said. She was already resigned to that much. "So again, where do we go from here?"

  "Yes, well ... um, back to New Helvetica as soon as possible. It actually serves us as a sort of base. Timon should be in some sort of condition to fly come the morning, but I'll want to give him the once over first. We need to get the dust back to our labs for complete analysis as soon as possible. When we have a full understanding of how it works and what it is, we'll be able to work out some way to stop it working and detect its presence. Well, that's the theory anyway. If we can do that, it should help to limit the import and the supply. There are people on New Helvetica who can do all of that for us. It is such a convenient world New Helvetica, abundance of tech and the freedom to move. We could probably get away with such things on my own home world, but neither the tech nor the channels exist there."

  "Hmm, I see. You're Andaran aren't you, Jayeer?" she asked. He nodded. "So, what about Timon, where's he from?"

  "I don't really think it's my place to answer for Timon. He'll tell you what he wants to. What I will say though, is that he's a true spacer. Born and raised between worlds. If you want any further details you'll have to ask him."

  Mahra accepted this and let him continue.

  "Anyway, I think we've really had enough for one night. Don't you? I'm going to get some rest and I suggest you do the same. We don't know what we might run into on the way out. I don't think they'll try anything portside, but you never know. I'll set the security on auto before I turn in. Is there anything else you feel you ought to know before I leave you to it?"

  Mahra shook her head.

  "Well, in that case, rest well"

  He nodded and stood, taking his mug to clean and stack before he left. As he reached the door Mahra called to stop him. "Jayeer."

  "Yes?"

  "Um ... thanks."

  Sind gave a slight frown, looking vaguely puzzled, before he turned and walked off down the passageway.

  She really should take his advice and get some rest, but her mind was ticking over too rapidly. She lifted Chutzpah from her shoulder, fished around and found a couple of nuts to keep him occupied, then wandered over to pour herself another mug of kahveh, running their conversation over in her mind.

  Chapter Eleven

  Valdor leaned back in his chair, fingers clasped behind his head and allowed himself the pleasure of putting his feet up on the desk. It felt good when something was working — really working, and finally the breakthrough had come. He'd pumped enough resources into the project and wrapped it in a security cloud. He had created a virtual think tank, if he thought about it. Well, now it had paid off. He had the biocomp.

  He knew he was right about it. The biocomp was a beauty and he alone could lay claim to it. The fact that some of the keenest intellects in the system were unable to scale that pinnacle on their own, only added to his satisfaction.

  One thing still troubled him — one small tarnish on the sheen of his success. His smile slowly faded as it came to mind. The Sirona. They still presented a threat, and so far, they had not played their hand. What the hell did the Sirona want with his little project? They
could have no real interest in something that was probably, to them, just a piece of low-tech gadgetry. The story had to run deeper than that, but he was cursed if he could work out their reasoning. That failing troubled him all the more.

  He liked to think of himself as reasonably astute when it came to the underlying motivations of others. Perhaps, after all, it was the sheer alien made-up of the Sirona thought processes that kept the answer from his grasp. He had to keep reminding himself that they weren't human. It was so easy to see them simply as short people with an accent, spawned in some edge of system backwater. But he couldn't allow himself to let it get to him. There had been no further sign since that initial brief encounter, and it suited him just fine. Carr Holdings could get along quite nicely without intervention, especially if that intervention was alien.

  He had decided he needed to set up an insurance policy just in case they did decide to act. If he could get a few samples of the core gene plasm sets off world, it would act as a safety net for his interests in case anything did go dreadfully wrong. Always better to be safe. He was not about to let his designs be held hostage by a group of poisonous little gnomes, no matter how much power they thought they had.

  Savouring the spiteful nature of his last thought, he dropped his feet to the floor and leaned across to establish com link with his erstwhile head of internal security. Carr had been right to place Milnus in the position of background control. It had paid dividends as he knew it would. There had been one or two dissenters when they closed off the research team from the outside world. During the project's life three more had created ripples because of their methods. One researcher was relocated; another two were victims of unfortunate incidents. Luckily those concerned weren't crucial to the ongoing success of the operation and Valdor was able to draft in replacements.

  Milnus's number two was efficient enough at what he did, but when it came to a sensitive situation, Carr felt forced to place Milnus directly in control, time after time.

  Dissent wasn't the greatest of concerns anyway. Exposure was, and Carr had given Milnus full authority to use all the means at his disposal to ensure it didn't occur. As a rule, scientific types were not high risk. They tended to be more bound up in their work and the vision of their own dissociated reality. They didn't usually get involved in the subterfuges and intrigues of corporate espionage. Valdor felt comfortable in the knowledge that everything was safe in Milnus's hands.

  Now it was time to set his insurance in place. He flicked on the com.

  "Milnus. Yes, Valdor. How are things, no further developments? No ... good. Look. I want you to arrange the transportation of some of the core sample offworld. Yes ... to my safe holdings on Kalany for the moment ... I don't know. Pick someone you can trust. There is someone isn't there? Hm-hm. I'll leave it in your hands. When you've seen to it, come over. I want a full report. In person."

  Valdor severed the connection and sat back, running his fingers back through his hair and drumming on the desk top with his fingers.

  ֍

  Milnus sat pondering his options for several minutes after the connection was broken. He had one or two people he could use for this assignment, but he didn't want to leave himself too exposed. The task wasn't important enough to go himself, but if Valdor was being paranoid about the whole issue he had best be careful with it. If there was potential for an intercept, he wanted to safeguard the project's confidentiality and that limited his choices. A certain team member involved on the project would have been ideal, but he had a problem. He knew too much of the technical details. No, he could use Phildore for technical advice on how to achieve the transportation. He had someone else — the ideal candidate in fact — to perform the task.

  Feeling pleased with his decision, he called Phildore in to set the first part in place. Having explained his requirements, he set about organising for the courier to be available.

  Milnus liked the idea of Killara as the courier. She was a basic physical type. She was proficient at looking after both herself and those she was assigned to, and that suited the current need precisely. At the moment, she was assigned to routine bodyguard duty covering one of the organisation's corporate wheels who for the moment was slightly at risk. Killara looked after him and at the same time kept an eye on his activities, making sure everybody's interested were covered. She was good, but someone could easily take her place in that role. She was better suited to what he needed.

  Having decided, Milnus put the procedures in place. He arranged for a replacement to take over from her, smoothly and seamlessly. He booked passage for her on an outgoing merchanter in six hours' time. That should give Phildore enough time to do what he needed to do. The passage was paid for out of Killara's own accounts and would be reimbursed later through another bank from virtually untraceable funds. She was easily the sort who would take passage on a merchant ship rather than a commercial transport vessel, so it was unlikely to arouse any suspicions. Because the merchanter was leaving in such a relatively short time, it would make it difficult for anyone to perform an intercept.

  Satisfied that he had the necessary mechanisms in place, he contacted Killara and organised a rendezvous in a secure central office close to the dockside in four hours' time.

  Milnus had risen far in Valdor's organisation for good reason. He was totally devoted to Valdor Carr and liked to watch the man's progress. Valdor's successes were his satisfaction. In many ways it was almost paternal, and Valdor lived the sort of existence that Milnus would have wanted had he the nerve for it. As Carr Holdings had grown, so had Milnus's importance. As time went on, Valdor's successes became Milnus's own, but they were achieved in subtle ways wherever possible. Often, he thought about how different it might have been had he been a younger man; how he himself might have risen to such heights. Now there was no longer that possibility, and he instead found satisfaction in his own role. He preferred to run things from the background and taste the successes in private.

  Less than two hours later, Phildore arrived back with his solution. Milnus looked up as he entered the room.

  "I think I have the answer," said the young man.

  "Yes?"

  "I won't go into too much detail, but we're trying to protect the sample from both detection and scanning, if I understand it correctly."

  "Right."

  "Well, you know the sample is biological." Milnus nodded. "What better way to conceal it than in something organic?"

  "I don't think I understand .... "

  "Think about it for a moment. You're sending the sample with a courier, the package is small enough to be concealed, and if we shield it in something organic, it won't show on scans or be detected."

  "Ahh, I see," said Milnus and nodded.

  Phildore, was clearly pleased with himself. "I've designed a little package from some of our organic waste materials. It is made in such a way as to protect the sample from the courier's body, and vice versa."

  "So ... what? The courier will swallow this package?"

  "No, no," said Phildore and smiled. "The courier will carry the package with them. If detection becomes likely, it's small enough that it should be able to be swallowed as a last resort. I had to provide for that eventuality. It won't show up on scans, and it would appear exactly like the remnants of the courier's last meal."

  Milnus smiled slowly, struck by the beauty of the solution.

  Phildore continued. "Of course, it's untested, but I believe it'll be safe." Phildore shrugged. "In the time available ... "

  "Yes, yes," said Milnus and waved his hand "Well done. So, we'll be ready for the meeting."

  The keenness of this young man's mind continually impressed Milnus. Phildore had a great future ahead of him if he played his cards right.

  It would take about an hour to get to the dockside offices directly, so Milnus took the extra precaution of planning a roundabout route to add to their security. It also meant their arrival should coincide roughly with Killara's. Timing was often everything. Satisfied
that everything was prepared, they left. Milnus felt confident that each party knew only as much as they needed to. The scientist's responsibility was only to provide a meant of effecting the end. Killara needed only to know how the mechanics worked and where she had to go. That was enough for each of them.

  They reached the offices in good time and had several minutes to wait for Killara's arrival. With the remaining time, Milnus took the extra precaution of checking the office security systems. It gave him extra reassurance that his plans couldn't go awry. Considering Carr's experiences with the Sirona, it didn't hurt to be sure.

  When Killara finally arrived, Phildore looked her up and down with an obvious expression of distaste. She strode into the offices like a piece of heavy machinery, short and squat and all compact muscle. She nodded to each briefly and stood in the room's centre waiting, without so much as a word. Milnus remembered now that she never had been one much for idle conversation. She was a good choice.

  Milnus moved over to stand between them.

  "Killara," he said. "Phildore." Killara grunted and Phildore nodded. "Well, Phildore, if you'd like to explain the procedure, we can get on with it.

  Phildore lifted the small package for Killara to see.

  "This is what you'll be carrying," he said. "What it contains is unimportant, but because of its sensitive nature, we've taken the extra precaution of making it so that you can swallow it if you need to."

  Killara frowned and took a step backward.

  "No, there's no need to be concerned," continued Phildore. "It is perfectly safe. We just need to be sure that it will pass any scans you might be subjected to. The material inside is biological, so it would pass naturally, but the coating surrounding it is biological as well, as an extra precaution. The coating is inert, and won't react with your own body's functions in any way. If necessary, those two things should make it pass any casual scan without being detected. I just don't want you to have any hesitation doing what is necessary if it comes to it."